After almost a decade of constant criticisms from the media and their grandparents alike, millennials no longer focus on the negatives. As younger millennials begin graduating college and older millennials take on more professional management positions, societal growth and improvement is looking up.

With a nationwide student loan debt passing well over $1 trillion in 2016, millennial students’ are put in a difficult situation. Unlike earlier generations, the current job outlook and social climate basically requires a college degree for meaningful employment in even entry level positions. Spending longer in school and more money on tuition than ever, millennials’ sense of duty towards their education and career is unique and nuanced. In the eyes of older generations, this translates into laziness and irresponsibility when millennials are forced to make the choice of staying living at home for the duration of their higher education, or moving out on their own and starting a family.

Millennials understand, perhaps more than any other generation before them, that before we can improve the world we must improve ourselves. Take a look at this infographic for more on the millennial mentality in the face of opposition, the challenges they face and overcome, and what it means for everyone’s future.